MCPS has to change its various frustrating policies that students and parents have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. These policies range from emergency alerts to grading to tardy penalties, and they need to be improved for students and their families.

Emergency notifications and policies regarding weather threats need to be changed for the safety of students. MCPS has an inclement weather policy but only recognizes extreme weather as threats and disregards minor threats.  On a bitter cold day, students struggle to make their way to school in weather conditions that could cause hypothermia from standing out in the cold, waiting for the bus. Cold-weather policies should be created and implemented, and they should consider wind chills under 0 degrees to be a threat with a delay as a response.

Another problem with weather emergencies occurs when the county notifies students and families about delaying school or starting on time. Notifications need to be announced the night before to prevent parents and students from ruining sleep and waiting until the last minute for whether or not they should leave their homes.

Grading policies also need an adjustment to ensure grading that recognizes all of the work that an individual student has done. Grading seems to differ from teacher to teacher. Homework should be changed to make all work such as homework, classwork and tests be in the same category. Homework shouldn’t be worth less than classwork since both require an equal amount of work, and homework shouldn’t be regarded as “easy” work. Combining all work will better represent how a student performs in the class. A student who does homework and classwork shouldn’t have to struggle to repair his damaged grades from a bad test that exponentially brings down the grade. Semester averages are another problem with the grading policy. Colleges see only the final semester grade, which consists of a student’s two-quarter grades and exam grade. If a student gets an “A” in both marking periods, exams can be optional due to his/her strong performance over the course of the semester. Students who work hard to get their “A” shouldn’t have to take a chance with their grade by taking an exam that sometimes asks questions the teacher didn’t cover due to various reasons, such as school cancelations, which cause delays in the curriculum.

MCPS has a tardy system where, after receiving five unexcused absences, the student will LC or lose credit in the class and fail the course. This system is too harsh because, considering how many days are in a quarter, missing five days of it shouldn’t make you fail the class and prevent you from being the student you want to be.

Changes in these policies will cause a more functional and fair system that both parents and students in the county would appreciate.